House Republicans have passed their “healthcare” bill:
The measure skirted through the House by a thin 217-213 vote, as all voting Democrats and a group of mostly moderate Republican holdouts voted no. A defeat would have been politically devastating for President Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in March that the GOP bill would end coverage for 24 million people over a decade. That office also said the bill’s subsidies would be less generous for many, especially lower-earning and older people not yet 65 and qualifying for Medicare.
A CBO estimate for the cost of latest version of their bill will not be ready before the House conducts its vote.
But rich people will get a trillion dollars in tax cuts in the next ten years, so there’s that. Kevin Drum has a nice summary:
With that in mind, let’s do a quick wrap-up of the bill:
- There have been no public hearings.
- There’s no final text.
- There’s no updated CBO score.
- It is opposed by virtually every patient advocacy group and everyone in the health care industry.
- Congress is still exempted from the new rules that allow states to waive essential benefits.
- It raises premiums dramatically for older people.
- It removes Obamacare’s protection against being turned down for a pre-existing condition.
- It would steadily gut Medicaid spending for the very poorest.
- It removes coverage from at least 24 million people, probably more.
- It slashes taxes on the rich by about a trillion dollars over ten years.
It probably won’t pass in the Senate (one can hope at least), but this shows what Republicans are for: the rich and definitely not the working class.
